The Misunderstanding of David Miller
Everyone expects it to be "Miller Time" the second David Miller walks out to bat, and it is asking for too much too soon.
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Once Upon a Time in the 90s
Scott Hatteberg was no Jason Giambi.
And anyone who knows anything about MLB from the turn of the century will tell you that Giambi was a phenom. Between 1998 and 2002 he was one of Major League Baseball's most prolific home run hitters.
And while Giambi was hitting them, every batter seemed to be doing their best to copy his style of batting and was more inclined to swing hard at almost every delivery. Not just that, but teams seemed to be in a constant search for their own Giambi, and as a result, they pushed their batters to adopt his approach.
But, instead of going with the pack, Scott Hatteberg went down a different path, he chose to be more circumspect.
This approach of his frustrated many people, his employers included. Everyone's reasoning was that if he swung at more pitches, he would give himself more chances at hitting home runs or at least hit balls to a decent distance, which would allow his team to load bases.
Hatteberg, on the other hand, had a very different view of things. He had a deep understanding of his strengths and weaknesses. He knew what he could and couldn’t do. He knew what deliveries he could and couldn’t hit well. So, instead of going after every delivery, he studied opposition pitchers and forced himself to look for a certain delivery from each pitcher, and then trained himself to see that delivery.
The result was that he developed a very patient approach to his game. He became so patient that regardless of circumstance, Hatteberg had a compulsion to make himself at home in the game, to slow the game down, to make it come to him, to make it his game.
However, even though his patience made him earn the team points, the people at the Red Sox felt that he was not doing enough and could have earned more points if he swung his bat at every delivery, even if it meant that it got him out.
In fact, his cultivated approach to hitting — his thoughtfulness, his patience, his need for his decisions to be informed rather than reckless — was regarded by the Boston Red Sox as a deficiency. Instead of clever batting, batting to a clear and concise plan, the Red Sox encouraged their players’ mystical streaks.
As Michael Lewis writes, "they taught their players to harness their aggression." A school of thought that made Hatteberg an insubordinate employee, because as far as he was concerned, there was no point in harnessing his aggression if it was going to leave him exposed. So if a ball that was not in his "happy zone," there was no way he swinging hard at it, despite loud protestations from his coaches and management.
It was only years later after Scott Hatteberg had become a success with the Oakland Athletics that the Red Sox noticed his value.
Cool story. But what does this have to do with anything? Well, everything. You see, by failing to understand Hatteberg's approach and reasons for that approach, and by only focusing on what they hoped for, a line-up that bats in the mould of Jason Giambi, the Red Sox failed to utilize Hatteberg fully. They just failed to appreciate the value he brought to the team.
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Once Upon a Time in The Present
ODI cricket David Miller is as misunderstood by many fans as Scott Hatteberg was misunderstood by Red Sox fans and management. The expectation when Miller walks out to bat is that he will "get going", hitting big shots in five, six or seven balls. In fact, besides AB DeVilliers, I cannot think of any other ODI batter who can accelerate that quick and sustain a steadily rising strike rate.
Of course, he can do this in T20s where scoring below a 100%+ Strike Rate for more than 6 balls is a liability. But then, you see, there is a difference between the ODI David Miller and the T20 David Miller. And rightly so.
In ODIs, David Miller, who averages 41.12 at a strike rate of 101.12, is one of few batters with a minimum of 2000 runs, averaging 40+ with a strike rate of 100%+. The other players that make this list are AB DeVilliers, who averaged 53.50 at a strike rate of 101.09, and Jonny Bairstow, who averages 48.25 at a strike rate of 104.64.
However, even though David Miller boasts such impressive figures, he does not start his innings like a house on fire. He is not a slogger or pinch-hitter, despite the fact that this is the lens that many people are content to view him through.
Like Hatteberg, he has an understanding of his game and prefers to get his eye in before accelerating his innings. He prefers his mind to reach that happy zone, a zone that popular psychologist Csikszentmihalyi calls the “flow state.” Therefore, early in the innings, unless the delivery is in his arc, he will not send out of the park. An arc that grows larger with the more time he spends on the crease. This is at odds with the perception that he is a slogger. However, like many well-rounded ODI batters, Miller prefers to play at a pace that he feels comfortable in, and not forced aggression.
An analysis of Miller's innings from 2015 onwards (made easier by these statistics provided by my friends at 12th Man Analytics) shows that early on in his innings, he averages a 60% strike rate. This strike rate only accelerates, and goes up to 90%+ when he has faced an average of 25 balls.
A close look at Miller's innings reveals that he has a higher success rate when his point of entry into an innings is roughly between the 15th and 35th over. In those situations, unless he is "not on form" and poorly timing the ball, he can play destructive innings and provide fans with the much-loved "Miller Time."
Of course, that does not mean that he cannot accelerate an innings in a shorter period. For instance, say he enters the match from the 35th to 45th over, particularly if you consider his T20I career. In T20Is for the Proteas Miller goes at an impressive strike 140.53 strike rate. Therefore, if the situation demands, he can certainly employ his T20 skills and mindset. However, that also means that he also runs the risk of a quick dismissal.
As a true middle-order batter, though he can bat a little higher, maybe at 5, batting at 6, David Miller still does a good job and delivers. Consider his scores from his last six ODIs: 50*, 50, 3*, 37*,64 and 69*.